Masterpiece: Nuggets

Nuggets was the brainchild of rock journalist Lenny Kaye, who dreamed up the set in the early 70’s, at a time when re-issue albums and nostalgic compilations were the domain of labels like K-Tel and Ronco. The original 1972 double album set* dipped into rock’s then-recent past to rescue 27 fuzzed-out, psychedelic singles by the likes of The Electric Prunes, The Shadows Of Knight, The Seeds, and The Remains. These bands were all influenced by the British Invasion, and because their enthusiasm and attitude far outstripped their musical abilities and sales figures, they were left to their own devices by otherwise occupied record labels. Taken individually, these songs are flashes of brilliance from obscure 60’s garage bands – collectively they represent the foundation of Punk rock.

The songs compiled here are living proof that great Rock & Roll doesn’t require great chops, and the number of bands influenced by that revelation is incalculable. But many of them started showing up in the mid-70’s, wearing leather jackets and playing a minimum-chord/no-solo form of primitive rock that came to be known as Punk. Nuggets is bare-knuckles tough, but much of it is also drenched in lysergic acid, and the songs here that don’t overtly reference tripping make up for it by aurally recreating the experience. The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, for example, is a band that shouldn’t be enjoyed while operating heavy machinery.

Amazingly, Nuggets still sounds fresh and vital – a timeless reminder that most bands are just a bunch of kids getting together for the love of music and trying to create something magical. And sometimes they even do…

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